It has been known to wind cable in a figure eight pattern in such a fashion that results in a radial opening being formed through the wall of the cable winding once the winding has been completely formed. Because of the particular figure eight winding procedure, the end of the cable disposed interiorly of the winding can be directed from inside of the winding through the radial opening formed in the winding without the cable becoming twisted and difficult to handle.
Typically, such figure eight windings are housed and transported within a cardboard container having an opening formed in one wall of the container. As pointed out above, in removing cable from the cardboard box, the inner end of the cable is directed outwardly through the radial opening and through the opening within the wall of the cardboard container.
To facilitate the feeding of cable from such a cardboard container, it is preferable to mount what is referred to as a pay-out tube within the opening of the cardboard container wall. In particular, the pay-out tube is usually inserted into the formed radial opening within the winding itself. This prevents the formed radial opening from collapsing during transport or the unwinding process. Besides being inserted into the formed radial opening within the winding, the pay-out tube is also coupled to the outlet opening formed in the cardboard container wall structure. Thus, the inside terminal end of the cable can be threaded through the pay-out tube inserted within the radial opening and out an outlet end of the pay-out tube that is disposed about the outlet opening formed in the cardboard container.
As noted above, pay-out tubes are known and are used extensively in the cable industry. For a basic understanding of the state-of-the art with respect to pay-out tubes one is referred to the following U.S. Patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,022,399; 4,057,203; 4,274,607; 5,042,739; 5,064,136; 5,150 852; 5,115,995; 5,152,476; and 4,373,687.
There are drawbacks and disadvantages with known pay-out tube designs. First, many pay-out tubes by virtue of their design, are difficult to install and are particularly difficult to couple to the outlet opening of the cardboard box. Moreover, conventional pay-out tubes are not designed to retain and hold the terminal end of the cable extending through the pay-out tube and from the cable box. Essentially, with prior art pay-out tube designs, the exterior terminal end of the cable simply dangles free and is not at all controlled. It is not unusual for the exterior terminal end of the cable to be inadvertently pulled back within the cable box and this results in the end user having to locate the inner terminal end and to thread the same back through the pay-out tube before the cable can be unwound and used.
Therefore, there is and continues to be a need for a cable container pay-out tube that is easy to install and particularly easy to attach or couple to the outlet opening of the cable box.